THE HAREMS OF TUNIS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2086, 11 January 1908, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE HAREMS OF TUNIS.

(By May Hoolse, in the “Gentlewoman.”) Tunis is one of the most interesting places to visit, o-n account of its Eastern appearance, and its cosmopolitan population; people of every nationality are to be 'seen in its streets, from the stout Jewess, with her almost tight trousers and tall cone-shaped hat, to the high-class Arab woman, not only veiled, but carrying a black scarf before her lace to liide even her eyes. The town stands on rising ground, and is encircled by a high wall encompassing the suburbs, having eleven gates, or passes into the country, and measuring about five miles in circumference. On arriving at any of the hotels, each party of visitors is put in'charge of a guide, who sits outside the door waiting to accompany his wards. His duties are to point out places 0 f interest, keep off the numerous beggars, and see that exorbitant prices are not charged for any purchases made in the Bazaar.

After some days spent in visiting the different parts of the city, our "-guide, a big Maltese, suggested that my mother and I should see some of the Harems, under the guidance of his wife, who, he assured us, had .he entree into all the best houses. ■Vc were naturally a little scep'rcd about- the truth of this last sratement, but were delighted wdii Ibo prospect of seeing something of the life led by the women. On the afternoon -arranged, we started off very much looking for war.! to this, to us, novel way ol passing the time. We were told Unit the women love- .sweets, so we took a- laigo box of sugared almonds with us, thinking that they would be pleased with the attention. The word Harem is the Arabic for anything forbidden, or not to be touched. . The first house into which we entered was that of the Prime Minister oi the. Bev of Tunis. We knocked, and th" door’ was promptly opened by a tall black man, who bowed lovy, and told us that lii-s master had left that moiyiiig with bis entire household ojhis summer residence at Marsa. (This is a little village by the sea, where the Bey holds his court during the hot months). Again saluting us. the man politely asked ns to enter, .saying the house was at our disposal, to ga whore, we liked, and offering to show us -all the things of interest. The houses are built of stone, general l v of one story high, and without windows looking oil to the street. Thev are in two distinct parts, only joined together bv a narrow passage; the outer has a large courtyard Tn Hie middle and open galleries round it, these lending to all the rooms. Wo were first shown the living-room (on the ground floor), where deep couches, covered with gorgeously colorc-l silk, were arranged against the wall ; and soft many-lined Persian carpets were .spread on the brightly tinned tiled floors. The ceilings were beautifully painted with birds and flowers ; the walls had i dado of tiles, i.m; above it, we saw the-beautiful Mooiish stucco work, which is eo famous. Between the windows were little archer for pots of perfume and baskets of flowers; everywhere exquisite carving. genornily painted white, was to be’ seen. In the courtyard stood great orange trees, , planted in tuns, with r-u.uwy flowers, and here and tlftwe Ike golden fruit gleaming among the dark green, shiny leaves. A fountain played in the centre, and throwing up several jets of water gave a pleasant- Coolness to Our guide then led us through to the women’s apartments, which were removed from- sight and had no other prospect than the gardens, and were of.aiw_

feature being the large, low beds at cither end, on slightly raised platforms, M'hero the women slept- with their children.

The style of the next house wo visited was very inferior. I should imagine the owner to be a merchant, for mingled with mmy beautilul Oriental tilings we saw blatant signs ol European art. Tho windows were tiling with yellow da mask curtains, ami had 'heavy festoons above of the same material, and a gilt chandelier was suspended from the ceiling. These were pointed put as great treasures, but wo instinctively turned our heads away in search ot something more picturesque on which the eye might rest. . . There was a stout Arab sitting on the floor, writing at; a small desk bain need on his knee; he wore a red fez on his head, white trousers and a red tunic. Ho bowed, but as we were only women, ho did not attempt to rise, hut acknowledged our .salutations by a slight inclination of tho head. His wife came forward to greet us; she was a big, dark woman, no longer young nor beautiful. She had straight dark hair hanging down on either side of a sallow face, and wore a small round cap on her head; a full white tunic, enormous white trousers, ami a blue embroidered zouave completed her costume. With the help of our guide, who acted as interpreter, quite a long conversation ensued, mostly questions on the part of our hostess. "M'ns 1 married?” “Not married; how shocking at my age.’’ “Did I dye my hair to make it golden?” “How many children had my mother?” “Three boys —that was good.” “Four daughters—hah!” Then we talked to the. husband, who told us he had boon very unlucky. He had not long ago got. a new wife, paid a lot of money for her. given her many jewels, and then she had died. He seemed to consider her death a personal injury. and spoke of it as if the poor thing had done ij on purpose. During this recital the other wife stood by and calmly listened, as if it had been no trouble to her. Wo offered them sweets, which were gladly icecpted, and in return she sent for her jewels to show us —great strings of uin'vm pearls, heavy bracelets in gold and silver, set with uncut stones, brooches and clasps of colored enamels. By this time we had become quite friendly, and, approaching us, she examined our clot lies, evincing groat interest in lace, which was nil unknown fabric to her. I stood tiiero almost trembling to feel the dark fingers of this strange-looking woman ereeep all over me, touching first my hair, then my blouse, and even my shoes. She seemed like a child in her delight at the novelty of it all. Just as we were about to leave she clapped her hands, and two servants appeared, and orders were given tor them to draw aside a thick curium hanging across ono end of tho room, and there was disclosed her greatest treasure, a piano. I was asked to play or sing, for, although it had been in her possession tor sonic time, she could not perform herself. 1 sat down and sang a French song, flunking, ns slm knew a few words of that language, she would prefer it to English. Then wo took our leave, with many regrets on both sides that the. visit could not be prolonged. M’e now proceeded to the house of a man called Abdullah, who lived under the same roof as his father, in a wing of the family palace. tie had the reputation of being clever, and so advanced in his ideas that ho followed the Western custom of only having one wife. The entrance to the women’s apartments was guarded by a fat eunuch, who sat on a mat smoking with an expression of lazy contentment, and made one think of an over-led tom-cat basking in the sun. M’e. were led through a long room, in which were seated many ivomenservants, some white, some black. One of the most noticeable features was an old, old woman, so shrivelled up that- she resembled a monkey more than a human being; she was perched on a high stool, cross-legged, nursing a tiny baby. As we passed along the women held out their hands for sweets, and in return I was given tho baby to hold. Adullah then sent word that he would be pleased to receive us.

AYe were ushered into a little room almost filled with two divans, placed against the walls, one raised slightly above the other. Oil the upper was the man, and beneath him was his wife. Imagine our surprise to. find that he was half undressed, all deficiencies of toilet being partially hidden bv a light rug. My mother was -horrified, and whispered that she really thought- we had better not stop, hut ho was perfectly unconcerned, and continued smoking and drinking coffee, some of Which he offered to us. He spoke very good French, and told us of his admiration for Europeans, and his wish to offe day visit Europe. ILii, wife looked about sixteen, and was. we learned, the mother of the baby I had just nursed. She was very pretty, with a lovely olive complexion and great soft, dark eyes. Her trousers were- made of rose-colored sill-c, embroidered wi;th flowers, and the little antiery, or waistcoat, was composed of white cloth, embellished with silver. She had long dark hair exquisitely liraided with pearls, and a tiny cap was on her head. She did not say a word, and was quite a contrast to the imperial, voluble lady who had last entertained us. We only stayed a Cow moments, as wo left sure we had disturbed their siesta. Before returning to our hotel we looked into a Turkish Bath Establishment, where a funny-looking little wizened Nubian woman came up, and asked if she might bath me, but I shook my head, and our guide explained that wo had only come to look. Yvo went from one hot- -room to another, and saw women seated round the apartments on marble slabs, smoking and chattering. They expressed themselves delighted to SCO us, and my clothes were again fingered and admired.

I wished to return the compliment, so I asked the Arabic of pretty, and going up 'to one woman who had a lovely orange-colored vest, 1 said, “IJllah-TJllah,” which mean pretty, no sooner were the words out of my mouth than the woman drew herself invnv with a frown, and looked quite frightened.. M.v guide, seeing what 1 had done, exclaimed; “Oh, you must not admire anything thatthey possess, or they will think you are casting the evil eye on them. X quickly apologised, and we parted quite friends. We felt when we got once more to our hotel as if we had spent a few hours in th" enchanted realms of the “Arabian Tsi^lits’ 7 : but bow tluuiklu.. I felt that- I was horn in the ’West and not in the East.